


Inquisitors Woe

by Drovenmad



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Dark Eldar, Eldar, Gen, Sisters of Battle, imperium
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-19 22:04:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drovenmad/pseuds/Drovenmad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inquisitor Xanxans is hoping his next mission is nothing more than a routine investigation of an Ork infested system... there will be nothing routine about it, Between a Sister Superior who hates him, a Eldar Farseer, a Dark Eldar Archon and a whole army of orks. What could possible go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Second Warhammer FanFic. Please let me know what you think. Makes it all worth while :3 jk, I just want to know that I haven't screwed up some major detail but meh. Hopefully this will continue but only time (or a Eldar Farseer) will be able to tell.
> 
> Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (except OC's)

Inquisitor Xanxas sat at his terminal on board the Dauntless-Class cruiser Valiant, even though it was rare for these ships to be far from the fleet he had always preferred them. They made his job of getting where he needed to be quickly and relatively quietly quite easy, and the ships were smaller and less crowded - even with him and his squad of Adepta Sororitas warriors - than the larger vessels. He always tried to requisition on of these ships instead of travelling onboard the Black Ships like his Inquisitor brethren seemed to prefer.

This particular ship was making its way to the planet Scaroos to investigates received by the surviving member of an Imperial Guard Recon Squad of high Ork activity and possible Heretical activity. Normally this would have been left to a squadron of Astartes, but when the transmission had came through he requested the assignment, after all they were near the system and it would be unwise not to investigate. Command had agreed with him, but stressed that they were only there to investigate, and at the first hint of Chaos activity were to request assistance from the nearby Angels Sanguine Space Marine Chapter.

"Come my dear Inquisitor" A ghostly voice seemed to fill the room as it echoed from the inside of his head, a Psyker, that was impossible not during warp travel.

"I await your arrival" There it was again, he was sure he had heard the voice but looking round there was no one in the room. He closed his eyes and focused, letting his own psychic abilities seek out whomever was speaking to him. He let out a small yelp as he was hit by psychic flashback as he had tried to reach beyond the ships warp field. Obviously someone had heard him yelp because the door behind him opened.

"Inquisitor Xanxas, are you alright?" He turned to face the person who was speaking to him. It was the Sister Superior of his Squadron of Battle Sisters, Sister Avaline. She was young for a Superior and seemed to favour leaving her helmet off and allowing her tied back blonde hair to flow during battle.

"I am fine sister, Just a silly mistake. That is all." Her eyes seemed as though they were trying to pierce through his soul and judge his every action and deed, in fact he was completely sure in her mind he was already branded a heretic. And all because he was a Psyker.

"We will make planet fall within the hour, please be ready." With that she took one last look at him and left the room, closing the door quickly behind her. She didn't even wait for a response. She defiantly hates me he thought.

**Meanwhile on Scaroos**

An ancient Webway gate unused for a millennia suddenly activated, the shimmering blue light that came from it lit the jungle around it, and even the individual drops of rain. Through the gate stepped four individuals, the one at leading them was the only one not wearing a helmet and as she stepped out of the gate her skin meet with the falling rain. The rain enhanced the features of her long face and black hair that fell straight around her head. The long black cloak - that made her bare pale arms stand out even more was - adorned with small white lettering along the seams floated only centimetres of the cold wet ground. The other three - all wore similar attire, long black cloaks with black plate-like material underneath and a small roundish helmet that had a white face plate, that along with the black surroundings enhance the red glow of the eye pieces - moved around to flank the Farseer.

"Are you sure he will come?" the Warlock closest to the Farseer asked, he was doubtful that an Inquisitor would willing seek out a Eldar Farseer as she was suggesting was going to happen.

"Yes, I have foreseen our meeting, though I must ask that you remain on guard," she turned to face her Warlock guard. "There is a third person at this meeting, one that I cannot see."

"Of course Farseer." The Warlocks exchanged some looks, had they not been wearing helmets they would have been worried looks. After that the troop set off towards a small clearing that the Farseer knew her meeting would take place in, though she did promise them that the rain would stop. Once they had passed the tree line the Webway gate fell silent and ceased functioning once again.

Several hours passed and once again the Webway gate flickered into life, the light it let out this time was not blue and nor did it shimmer, this time it violently flashed as purple lighting arched from the top of the gate to the ground. Out of the gate this time emerged three figures. Unlike the Eldar before them it was a male that lead two females, and none of them wore helmets. There spiked black armour seemed to ignore the rain completely, as even when wet it let off no shine.


	2. Scaroos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arrival at Scaroos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo second chapter, little information lotsa fluff maybe even a little in accuracies about to the warp but meh
> 
> Please review, and don't feel bad about pointing something I missed or made a mess of out.
> 
> Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (except OC's

Two Valkyries dropped down through the low cloud of the planet of Scaroos, and flew over the high tree tops looking for the landing sight, a clearing large enough for both of them. It was not long until they found one. Inquisitor Xanxas had demanded that they land on the opposite side of the planet than where the Ork hordes were. This meant landing in a dense forested region, which the pilots had not been too pleased about.

After the Valkyries had landed and shut off their engines the Inquisitor and his squadron of Battle Sisters disembarked. It would take the sisters a while to unload their equipment so Xanxas decided that the best thing to do would be to start without them. He moved far enough away from the large transports as not to get in anyone's way but stayed close enough that Sister Avaline would not see fit at giving him another lecture about personal safety. He sat done on a bolder at the edge of the clearing and closed his eyes.

He began to feel the planet around him, the presence that it left in the warp. Every plant, every tree all of it left some small imprint in the warp and all of it told a story - though he admitted most of the stories were rather boring - to the west there was a large concentration of a low level presence in the warp, Xanxas made the correct assumption that it was an Ork hunting party or small Ork encampment. There was only one more anomaly that caught his attention, it was to the north, and was much closer than the Orks. It was a huge presence in the warp, a shadow on the things around it, he was unable to tell if it was the shadow of chaos, although he thought if it was chaos, he and the sisters should leave as soon as possible for he was no match for something that powerful. Against his own judgement he decided to reach out and try and discover more about the anomaly, at first he was careful and approached with extreme caution hoping to remain undiscovered. He was unsuccessful, the presence turned its full attention on to his mind. Two piercing eyes were staring into his very soul.

"You have come!" The ghostly voice that had spoken to him whilst he had been onboard the Valiant returned, this time much louder and clearer. "Looking into that which must at all time be viewed with suspicion is never wise"

There was a sudden bolt of pain as the other presences rejected his mind and forcibly ejected him from his meditation. He jumped to his feet and quickly observed the area around him, the sister were almost finished unloading there supplies, thankfully it looked like none of them had seen what had just transpired. He slowly began to make his way back towards the Valkyries, his eyes observing his surrounding his environment at all times.

"Inquisitor," Sister Avaline turned to face him as he reappeared, even though she was shorter than he was onboard the Valiant, with her armour on she seemed taller than he was. "We have finished unloading our equipment and are ready for the Ship to send down men to secure a Base of Operations."

"That will be unnecessary Sister. I don't plan on being here for very long." Xanxas didn't want any more men than he needed on this Ork infested rock.

"Sir, that is against Imperial protocol." She didn't wear a helmet so Xanxas could see the look of anger in her dull green eyes.

"Tell the pilots to return to the ship," He meet her sharp gaze with nothing more than a look of contempt. "They are to stay there until I say otherwise," he made sure to put a lot of emphasis on 'I' to make sure she understood exactly how serious he was being, "Am I being clear sister?"

"Yes, Sir." The Sister continued to glare at Xanxas for sometime before turning away and activating her Vox to relay his orders to the Pilots, who in turn would relay them to the captain of the Valiant. Not long after the order was given the engines on both Valkyries fired up and lifted off, within seconds they were above the canopy of the surrounding jungle and after a minute they passed once more above the clouds and out of the sight of the units they had left on the surface.

"Which direction sir?" the sister superior approached Xanxas after the Valkyries were out of sight.

"North," he spoke after a minute of thought, and internal debate as where it would be safe to head in the direction of a potential Chaos threat. His curiosity had won the argument, he wanted to know the source of this voice. "We head north, there is a large psychic presence that we must investigate."

"Yes, Sir." Sister Superior Avaline turned to face her soldiers, "We head north, possible Heretic contact. Be Vigilant sisters."

With that the entire group started to make their way north through the overgrown jungle at a slow pace due to the Battle Sisters heavy and bulky armour. Noticing this he was glad that he had not brought a squad of Astartes.

The Battle Sisters and Inquisitor Xanxas had been marching for the better part of a day - which on this planet seemed to be relatively short - as night approached they found themselves leaving the congested jungle and entering another clearing. Xanxas could have sworn that they were almost right on top of the large psychic presence, but there was no obvious signs of corruption - which relieved him - but he was worried by the lack of any sort of evidence of the psychic presence. They stopped, the sisters all had their weapons raised ready to counter any threat that brought itself down upon them.

"We stop here for the night Inquisitor." Sister Avaline spoke towards the Inquisitor, Xanxas noted that she had made it an order not a request. He nodded in return.

The Sisters proceeded to make clear areas for fires and set up a perimeter around the camp. Xanxas on the other hand had no intention of stopping, but he would not dare travel further than the sister perimeter at the risk of being accused of trying to sneak off and summon some daemon by Sister Avaline. But after an hour of stalking the perimeter he had gained no information and returned to the main area, he spotted a small fire that only had one Sister sitting at it, he moved towards it. He sat down, better one sister than a group of them he thought, only then did he look up and see that the sister who was sitting opposite him was Sister Avaline.

The two of them sat in silence, occasionally giving each other a slight glace or glare if they noticed the other looking. After some time it became clear that there were whispers within the main body of the group, and that they seemed to stop when ether the sister Avaline tried to hear what they were about. Though Xanxas was pretty sure he could guess.

"Many of your Battle Sisters are young."Xanxas asked, trying to elevate the annoying silence that was currently filled by little more than whispers and the occasional crackle of the fires.

"They may be young," Xanxas noted that her tone was the same as it would be if he had just threatened her. "but dare not question their strength or faith."

"I question not their faith or strength," Xanxas had almost had enough of her unnecessary aggressive attitude. "Just there experience, are they fully prepare to engage a greater Daemon or Chaos lord?"

"I...," Xanxas eyes had changed from his normal calm and kind stare to a cold glare, he seemed to have touched a nerve. Her answer was quiet, so quiet he almost didn't hear it. "No. I would doubt any of them would survive."

"Faith can only protect you from the enemies within yourself."

"The Emperor protects!" she almost screamed at him, as she rose to her feet, suddenly enraged by him - an Inquisitor no less - suggesting otherwise.

"Calm down Sister," very quickly she regained her composure and returned to her seated positions. Once more a eerie silence fell between them. But this time nether of them broke it.

If he had to guess Xanxas would have said that it was about midnight for this planet, the clouds of the day had cleared and both of the planets moons stood at their peak in the sky. That meant that the clearing was relatively well lit, he could clearly make out the silhouettes of the resting Battle Sisters, who were all leaning against something be it a tree or a rock. He had not wanted to sit to near to him but Sister Avaline had insisted of keeping him under guard and as such four sisters where resting in strategic places around him. Another quick look around told him that none of them were sleeping, a few moved too much and some even whispered.

He decided this would be a good time to once more examine the warp around them. He closed his eyes and started to reach out. The large presence that he had felt earlier in the day was still there and still right next to them, although it was too strong for him to clearly see what it was however he was sure the opposite was not true. So he decided to ignore the larger presence and look further, as he did he immediately found his next object of interest. It was another small presence, larger than an Orks or another Humans, but it was extremely twisted and had he not encountered those tainted by Chaos before he would have assume that it was the taint, but it was not, it was something that he had never seen before. Something that was just as twisted as chaos, full of malice and hatred. But as he was about to try and force it to reveal more about itself when the voice returned, louder and clearer than even.

"A wise man does not trek down a broken path," the words seemed to echo in his head. This time he did not break the link, he was determined to get some answers.

"Neither does he lock himself away from the world." He responded, he couldn't target the other mind like it had with him, but he could still talk to it.

This time the other mind broke the line and its presence disappeared from inside Xanxas head. But it was only after it had gone that he realise just how hard he was breathing. He opened his eyes, to see that very little had changed except that there was another sister beside him. Sister Avaline was right beside him, close enough to whisper.

"We are being watched." She said, obvious by the tone in her voice this was causing her some concern. She looked at him, Xanxas smiled.

"We have been watched since the moment we landed, if not before." They had caught someone's attention, other than this large presences there were three smaller once that the larger one had tried to mask. One had stayed with the large one the entire time, but the other two had been moving to follow the Inquisitor and his Guard. One in front of them and one behind them, now all three along with the larger one had surrounded them. But they were waiting for something.

"What why didn't you tell us?" she was trying - and mostly succeeding - to keep her voice quiet, but without waiting for an response she changed her mind about keeping quiet. "Sisters be ready, we be under the eyes of the enemy."

The Sisters of battle were on their feet and armed in seconds, Avaline grabbed the Inquisitor and throw him into the middle of the circle that the Sisters had formed, ready for whatever came their way.

From her place in the trees Farseer Alythwin quietly waited with one of her Warlocks standing next to her, the humans had settled down a while ago, and her other Warlocks had reported in. She was about ready to make her move, but just as she was about to give her order the human Psyker once again began to reach out with his mind. He was persistent she had to give him that. She followed him her he mind, he first looked once again at her. But he quickly shifted his focused towards the dark and tangled mess that had been stalking her and her Warlocks.

" A wise man does not trek down a broken path," Her voice echoed through the warp, seemingly shaking the human again, then she waited for him to sever the connection, but unlike the last time he didn't.

"Neither does he lock himself away from the world." His voice responded to her, she was caught slightly off guard by the conviction behind the humans words.

Just as she was about to respond, the Warlock touched her shoulder, pulling her out and breaking the link with the Humans mind. She looked at him and silently asked him why he had disturbed her. In response he pointed at one of the warriors the Human Psyker had brought with him. She was moving slowly to sit beside the Psyker. After a minute and what seemed like a short conversation, she shouted something and the rest of the Humans stood up, weapons drawn and enclosed around the Psyker who had been dragged into the open by the woman who had given the order.

"Warlock, bring the other two back." He nodded in compliance and then sent the message out psychically to the other two. "We have a Mon-Keigh to visit."


	3. The Dark and Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the Eldar, and the puppeteer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter Chapter this time, mainly because it seemed like a good place to end the chapter instead of looking for a stopping point.
> 
> As usual please review. XD
> 
> Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (except OC's)

"Sister Avaline," Xanxas was not happy about the way he was being treated. He knew that it was the job of the Sisters to keep him safe, but he was more than capable of defending himself. "I am quite capable of my own defence."

The Sister Superior ignored the comment made by the Inquisitor who was standing in the middle of the circle that she and her battle sisters had created around him. Even though the moons light made the area considerably brighter it was still hard to see anything past the tree line. Shadows of the forest surrounded them. The younger sisters seemed all too eager to shoot something there Bolters had been raised the fastest and their fingers hovered only inches of the triggers. Both Xanxas and Avaline could see this, and both knew that if they really were attacked they would lose most of the squad due to inexperience. There was movement from the forest in front of the Sister superior, all of the Bolters were trained on the spot within seconds. From the bushes emerged Farseer Alythwin, the white symbols on the seams of her clothing seemed to glow in the dim light of Scaroos two moons. The Sister superior opened her mouth to give her troops the order to kill the Xeno when she realised that she already had a blade at her throat.

"Not a word, Mon-Keigh." Came a voice from behind her, obviously the owner of the blade. She sister could not see the blade or its owner, but Xanxas could, he was taller than the battle Sister and gave off a large psychic aura that was typical of the Eldar Xanxas had seen before. His sword was a like nothing Xanxas had ever seen though, it had an almost hourglass shape to the blade and was surrounded by pulsating blue energy. Xanxas then seized the initiative and took the moment where the Sister Superior couldn't contradict his order to save the lives of these young Battle Sisters, the Eldar wouldn't kill without reason - he hoped.

"Stand down sisters." He gave the order with conviction, and although they were confused they complied with the Inquisitors order.

"Smart choice," another voice came out of thin air and two more Eldar similar to the one holding the Sister Superior appeared in front of him, there blades trained on him though not as close as the others was to the sister. "Now drop your weapons."

All of the sisters seeing their charge being threatened became greatly angered but as he looked around at them they could see that in his eyes he wanted them to do as they were told, so each sister relinquished her Bolter. The Sister Superior had hers taken, she was still to shaken up to move. The three warlocks then moved all of the Sisters into a line on the Inquisitors left - he had went to move as well but a quick jab with the point of that nasty looking sword told him to stay put. The first Warlock finally released the Sister Superior and throw her at the rest of her lined up sisters.

"Stay put." He said slowly, as if he was talking to a child not a respected enemy.

Farseer Alythwin who had moved back into the shadows now emerged once again, with the grace and elegance that seemed to come to the Eldar so easily she walked over to Xanxas who was standing on his own in the middle of the clearing. As she stopped in front of him he got a much better look at her, skin far paler than any humans he had ever seen, her long face and contrasting black hair did nothing to improve to look of her pale skin. Her eyes were tapered with yellow iris's and her psychic presence was undeniable, in fact it was gigantic, a shiver ran down Xanxas spin. The only thing he could not understand was that if she terrified him this much why could he not look away, why was it that whenever he tried he ended up looking into those captivating eyes of hers.

"A voice in the night can call even the most waywardly soul" a cold and ghostly voice rang out in Xanxas head, it was the same voice that he had been hearing for days.

"What is that you want Xeno?" Xanxas summoned all of his willpower to try and fill his voice with some semblance of authority, though it seemed that the Farseer found this little more than amusing.

"Want, there is nothing that we want Mon-keigh," this time she spoke so that everyone could hear, though her voice sounded no different than it had inside his head. "Need is what we have and feel, but what is it you need Inquisitor?"

"I..." Xanxas was taken aback, with no trouble thing Eldar had completely taken control of the conversation, and even turned his own question on him, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Danger, Mon-Keigh," her eyes seemed to grow colder - if that was possible - her stance was ridged, it actually reminded Xanxas of some of the older Inquisitors, "Warp, Chaos and Eye. These things are becoming more and more clear to the future we are walking towards. An event that is hidden from my sight by the twisting of Chaos."

"Warp, Chaos, Eye?" There was silence as the Inquisitor processed the words and information Eldar had spoken to him. Suddenly it hit him, he knew of what the Eldar Farseer spoke of, "The Eye of Terror!"

Suddenly from the shadows of the forest erupted a loud, cybernetic and painful sounding laugh. It reverberated around the entire clearing. The Eldar Warlocks looked away from their charge and turned to face the three new figures who had just emerged from the tree line. As they emerged from the shadow Xanxas got a relatively good look at them, the one in the middle was also the tallest, like the Farseer he had a long face and tapered eyes, but his skin whist still pale had a grey tint to it, making him seem more sinister. His black armour seemed to reflect no light and only its shape was visible in the low level light of Scaroos moons, it was obvious that there were many spikes protruding from his shoulders and gauntlets, his long cape covered the rest of his shape. Behind him were two almost identical females, their skin a similar colour to his but hair was completely different, where as he seemed to have black hair tied back behind his head, theirs was the colour of flames, and was tied off at the top of their head - with what looked like bones - before falling down over there shoulders. There clothing and armour around the legs was similar to the Eldar Warlocks but in black and purple, but the chest armour Xanxas would agree looked more like the Sisters of Battles armour if much less bulky. They two females seemed to be holding blades in each hand, but the males blade was by far the scariest, it looked as though it was made of some sort of bone material. Though whilst it looked menacing it was the psychic screaming that surrounded it that scared Xanxas most.

Within seconds the Warlocks had once again surrounded the Farseer and the Sisters had gotten their guns back and after deciding that this new threat was more dangerous than the Eldar had them trained on the three new figures.

"Druchii!" the lead Warlock spoke, loud enough so that everyone including the new figures could hear what he said.


	4. Valiant Struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slither in the Dark Eldar, and the true enemy revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this took longer than expected, through getting involved in writing Warhammer role-play fluff and writing other ideas and stories this seemed to take a bit of a back seat, but I finally finished this chapter and I hope it is at least decent.
> 
> please review. XD
> 
> Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (except OC's)

Bolter shots rang out through the clearing, the Sisters had opened fire on the Dark, spiked laughing new arrivals. Before he could even respond Xanxas looked round to see the two sisters closest to him turn their weapons on the Farseer and her Warlocks. More gunfire rang out as they fired indiscriminately at all Xeno targets, in horror Xanxas turned round expecting to see nothing more than a pile of bullet ridden corpses, to his great surprise the Farseer, her eyes still trained on where the newcomers had emerged from, was standing there with two Warlocks standing beside her. The Third Warlock was down on one knee his free hand, pressed to the ground. The Warlock seemed to be generating a Psychic barrier protecting both him, his fellow Warlocks and his charge from any enemy fire.

"Cease Fire!" Xanxas wanted to get some control back, he screamed over the noise of the Bolters, "In the name of the Emperor I command you to Hold your Fire."

It took a minute or two but that seemed to have done it, the rate of fire slowed to a crawl. Xanxas scanned the body language of the sisters most of them seemed to be shaking under their armour, the only one who didn't seem to be was Sister Avaline he could see it in her face, her resolve was absolute she had only stopped firing because he had invoked the Emperors word. He took one last glance over his soldiers then turned to see the damage that had been done, unsurprisingly the Eldar seemed completely unharmed - he was beginning to think that this happened every day to them - he was more worried and interested in the three people who had appeared before the whole think had turned into a disaster.

Slowly Xanxas allowed his gaze to fall on the spot that they had been standing, what he saw almost made him fall over in shock, and from what he could hear most of the Sisters had just seen it too. Standing in the mist of the damaged foliage there were still three figures, completely untouched and uninjured from the hail of bullets that they had just sat through. Worse than that, the male - obviously the leader - was still smiling, his long thin face seemed to be stretched wide by his oversized grin the wrinkles around his eyes seemed to deepen the longer he stood there.

The three groups of people stood there in silence for what seemed like hours. By the time the Eldar Farseer spoke again the moon had once again been hidden behind cloud and rain was falling from the sky.

"Archon Kythorax," it was Farseer Alythwin that broke the silence, "Fate has once more had a hand in seeing you return to my side."

"Ah Farseer," out of the bush came the male leader of the troupe who had been standing in front of them, and still was. It was only when the other two also appeared out of the bush that Xanxas figured it must have been a hologram. "Fate has little to do with me returning to your beautiful side."

The Archon walked straight towards the Farseer and seemed to dance around the Warlocks as they tried to stop him - Alythwin raised her hands to stop them after they're failed attempt - with his grin still in place walked up to the Farseer and grabbed her hand. He gave a small bow as he lifted the hand up to his mouth, giving it a little kiss on her knuckles, even the Farseer herself seemed a little lost for words after that. Everyone was so shocked - including the Warlocks and Farseer - that no one saw the Archons two female companions quietly appear beside him. The silence that was created by the Archon was only broken when the Archons smile had decreased to the point where he could speak once more.

"Alythwin, I see you still have a thing for the monkeys." He turned to look at Xanxas for the first time, his faded purple eyes examining every detail he could on the inquisitor. "Though this one is rather young is he not?"

"Wisdom and knowledge are not reserved for the old, Fate has been shaped in a way that allowed our meeting," Farseer Alythwin had found her voice, though Xanxas noted that it no longer sounded as confident as it had been earlier. "Just as fate brought you here."

"Fate?" the Archon let out another frantic sounding laugh that seemed to reverberate in the rain around him. "We both know it was you, not fate, that called me here."

"Fate shapes us, just as we shape it." It was Alythwin's turn to smile, her response cause the Archons own smile to flicker.

There was a flash of lightning in the air, as the rain continued to fall in the two powerful beings before the Inquisitor. There was another flash but this time it was not lightning, in a split second the Archon had drawn a bone coloured blade from beneath his coat and struck at the Farseer with the full intent of killing her. She easily blocked the attack with her Singing Spear, she also seemed to visibly relax, it was as though she had been awaiting the attack from the Archon. Her Warlocks on the other hand seemed ready to all dive at the Archon, and they probably would have had it not been for the blades that were being held to their throats by the Archons female companions. Both the Archon and the Farseer lowered their blades with smiles on their faces, and signalled for their followers to do the same.

Xanxas was unsure what to make of the meeting before him, it had been about an hour since the new "Archon" had arrived and after greeting, and then trying to kill each other they had started to converse in their native tongue. His sisters were once again getting restless, and had been for most of the hour so much so that every now and again Xanxas had to turn and shot Sister Avaline a glare so that she knew to keep her juniors in line. The only thing the Inquisitor seemed to be thankful for at the moment was the fact that the rain had taken it upon itself to stop once more leaving the clearing under the light of the moons. The air around the groups was tense, it seemed than none of them trusted any of the others, and to make matters worse Xanxas could feel the faint presence of a Ork hunting party closing in on their location. Taking out the Ork hunting party wouldn't be too much trouble, but if the main horde was alerted to their presence on the planet that would be an entirely different issue.

After another few minutes of conversing the two Xeno leaders fell into silence, both seemed to be thinking about what the other had said. There was a sudden burst of static from the Inquisitors Vox.

"Sir, we have a slight problem up here." A voice rang through the clearing, it wasn't very clear and echoed making it hard for anyone but the Inquisitor and the xeno leaders - who were closest to him - to understand.

"What is it captain?" Xanxas had not forgotten about the nearby Ork party and decided to keep his voice to a minimum.

"Sir, it seems that some of the crew have started to question..." The captain was cut off by an explosion on his end followed by what the Inquisitor recognised as Lasgun fire.

The three leaders stood in silence waiting to hear what was going on onboard the Inquisitors ship. It wasn't long before the fireing and screaming on the other end of the Vox died down and the captains voice was replaced by another, much more hollow and dead sounding one that seemed to be cheering, seemingly Oblivious to the fact that the Vox was still broadcasting.

"Blood for the Blood God." Xanxas eyes seemed to widen in fear, "Skulls for the Skull Throne."

The Valiant had fallen.


	5. Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't trust anyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might update a few more parts by the end of the year.
> 
> Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (except OC's)

The Vox unit had fallen silent a little over an a few minutes ago, though within the clearing the only movement had been from the Archon retinue, who after growing bored had decided to seat themselves on large boulders at the edge of the clearing nearest the Archon.

The Archon himself no longer had a grin plastered on his face, instead it now dawned an expression similar in seriousness to the Farseer in front of him. In fact, on closer inspection Xanxas would have said that the expression that was on the Archons face was one of anger, as though he had been lured into a trap.

"The Mon-Keigh ship has fallen; there is no longer a point in staying here, my lady." One of the Warlocks spoke directly at the Farseer, his voice was cold and slightly higher pitched than the one who had spoke earlier.

"Be still, or you shall bring the Green horde down upon us," The Farseer replied quite plainly, Xanxas could also feel it the Ork hunting party was growing ever closer.

"Come, Follow me, quietly." The Archon spoke, his voice did well to mask the anger that was present on his face.

Slowly the clearing emptied, every occupant sticking close to their commander and weapons trained on the others to make sure that no trickery or deception was in play. The Sisters had taken the opportunity to once again surround Xanxas, but this time made no aggressive moves against the Xenos' that were there.

"Inquisitor, what can we do?" one of the youngest sisters asked, her helmet hiding her fearful expression but it could not hide the shake in her voice. "If the Ship has fallen then we..."

"Faith is our shield sister," Xanxas answered without thinking, it was one of the lines that had been drilled into him a long time ago something to say when morale was low. It seemed to work, many of the sisters seemed to visibly relax within their armour, a sentiment he wished he could share, but his eyes were still dancing between the Farseer, Flanked by her Warlocks, and the Archon at the lead of their strange group.

The group had been walking through the rain soaked forest of most of the night before they finally reached the destination that the Archon had been heading for. It was a large cave hidden beneath layers of foliage. The Archon and his companions were the first to enter and did so without any hesitation, after a few moments they were followed by their Eldar kin. Xanxas and the Sisters were the last to enter, though Xanxas was extremely surprised by what he saw once passing over the threshold of the cave.

The inside of the cave was large enough for all of the groups to take their own area and set up, in the centre of the main chamber there was already a fire set up and burning quite nicely giving the entire chamber a radiant orange glow. The sisters claimed the area at the back, furthest from the door but offering the greatest line of sight on both of the Eldar kin and the door itself. The Dark Eldar took up a place to the left of Xanxas and his Sister, pulling out equipment backs that were hidden behind some of the rocks. Finally the Eldar set up opposite their kin and to the right of Xanxas.

"Inquisitor, can we trust these Xenos?" It was sister Avaline who asked him the question; she had yet to take her eye off the Archon or the Farseer, her stare jumping between them at regular intervals.

"I would never fully trust the Eldar or their Fallen brethren Avaline, but we must make do in this scenario." Xanxas said quietly to the doubtful sister. "Maintain your faith, The Emperor Protects."

"The Emperor Protects." Avaline muttered quietly in response.

She finally managed to place herself on to the ground and began to act like the squads leader again, she started asking the rest of the sisters for inventory and taking notes of what they would need.

Xanxas' mind was preoccupied on the Eldar Farseer's words from earlier in the night, what had she seen that had her so worried. It was about the Eye of Terror that he could be sure about just form her cryptic warnings alone, but he could not figure out why she would warn the Imperium.

"Your mind is troubled."The Farseer's cold voice echoed on the inside of his head once more, "Sleep on the revelations that today brought, and tomorrow the path will become clear"

Xanxas looked over at the Farseer, what was sitting in the middle of a semicircle formed by her Warlocks with her back to the wall seemingly all in deep meditation, she looked back at him and for a moment there eyes meet and a small smile crept its way on the Farseer's elongated face. That mere moment filled Xanxas with even more confusion, in one way he would have said that an Angel had just smiled at him, but on the other hand she was a Xeno and he as one of the Emperors faithful should never even think of her in the light of the opposite sex. Never the less, he took her advice and retrieve a bed roll form his equipment pack and laid it out before trying to get some sleep.

Xanxas awoke several hours later, or he at least assumed it had been several hours, the fire had died down and there was no noise from the other inhabitants of the cave. Carefully he looked around, the Elder had seemingly not moved, he quietly wondered if they slept like that, there fallen kin opposite them were not much different both of the Archons female companions stat in similar positions to the Farseer with their eyes closed and there breathing slowed, the Archon himself was nowhere to be seen. His own sisters seemed also to have given in to fatigue, though shock of losing the ship was also possible. A lone sister sat on a rock, her back against the wall it would seem that she had fallen asleep whilst on watch; he would have to make sure that Avaline never saw otherwise that sister was in for a hard time.

Slowly and quietly Xanxas stood up and made his way toward the entrance of the cave, pushing aside the foliage he walked outside. It was still night though there was a sliver orange at the very edge of the horizon, the end of this long night was drawing near. Suddenly he heard the sound of a snapping twig come from behind him, he drew his pistol and turned to see what it was.

"The monkey is jumpy." A cold cybernetic voice rang quietly out of the shadows, and slowly Archon Kythorax slithered his way out of the shadows of the nearby foliage, his arms raised to show that he was of no threat.

"What do you want Xeno?" Xanxas sounded as forceful as he could whilst remaining quite. There was a niggling right at the back of him mind that told him that the Ork hunting party was still in the vicinity.

"Want? There is nothing I want from you Mon-keigh." The Archon unsightly grin from last night made a reappearance on his pale elongated face. "I wish to give you some advice, as a Denizen of the Dark city."

"What is it?"

"Do not trust her."

"Who?"

"Who he asked, he is so obviously infatuated with her yet he still asks who." The humour in his words did not match the serious appearance that his face had suddenly taken. "Farseer Alythwin of course."

"Why should I trust you then?" Slowly the Archons grin reappeared.

"Now you are getting it. You shouldn't trust me either." Without waiting for Xanxas to respond, the Archon made his way back into the cave.

Xanxas turned around and watched the horizon as the sun began to rise over the tops of the jungles of Scaroos. As he watched, the Archons words echoed through his head along with the question he never got to ask 'Who should he trust then?'


	6. A new Mystery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok first step is a serious apology for the long gap, but I found myself with a huge problem on where to go next. That has all been sorted out now and I have a new direction for the plot to take. This will be adding in a Space Marine legion (bet you can't guess which one, because there are loads and no clues). Hopefully though that means that Updates will become more frequeant.

As he watched the sun rise further into the morning sky he heard movement from the inside of the cave. The scraping of the ceramite armour that the sisters wore could be heard clearly outside of the cave, whilst the Eldar and their kin made only the slightest shuffling that was barely audible whilst you stood next to them. Silently he sighed before taking one last look at the flaming orange sun and returning to the cave.

Once inside he could see that the situation was even tenser than it had been last night, the sisters had returned to their adopted "ready to fire" position, something the Archon seemed to find rather amusing whilst the Farseer failed to even take the slightest bit of notice.

"Stand down Sister," Xanxas spoke firmly but quietly, the last thing they needed was the Ork hunting party to hear him yelling, or a gun shot from one of the sister bolters. "The Orks are still close and the last thing we need is a fire fight with those brutes."

Most of the sisters gave a slight nod lowering their weapon, followed by the Archons grin. Even though they had lowered their weapons, they did not take their eyes of either of the xenos, ever watching for even the slightest movement or sign of deception. Xanxas on the other hand moved over to where the Farseer was still seated on the floor of the cave.

"I take it you have an idea of how to get of this Ork infested hell hole?" He asked, trying to ignore the pointed looks that he was sure the Warlocks were giving him through their helmets.

"I do. Just as the river can always flow down another path, so too must the Eldar be fluid in their methods." The Farseer spoke in her normally flighty voice, though it was beginning to annoy Xanxas that the woman seemed to do nothing but talk in overly complicated cryptic phrases.

"I think she means yes," Came the cold voice of the Archon from over his shoulder. "I could have told you that though, since both she and I arrived in the same way."

"Would you be willing to allow us passage?" Xanxas directed his question at the Farseer, whilst not trusting her he had a feeling that the price she would demand would be less than that of her darker counterpart. This seemed to catch the Farseer's attention; she opened her cold silver eyes and looked directly up at him.

"Just like the ferryman, we two have a price for the crossing of our stream."

"And what would be the price that we would have to pay?"

"Knowledge is the greatest prize to the Eldar; the price is some of your own knowledge."

"And how will you receive this knowledge?"

"The same way I spoke to you when you were crossing the grand ocean." Xanxas knew what she meant this time, but it also meant that he would be unable to control which knowledge she obtained, her mind was significantly more powerful than his own.

"What knowledge do you seek?" A small smile slowly grew on the Farseer's elongated face.

"The experiences that make you who you are. They are vital to understanding a person at an emotional level."

Xanxas nodded before turning away and heading back over to the sisters, where Sister Avaline was staring at him not looking over happy about what he had just done. She went to speak, but Xanxas was not in the mood to speak, and simple raised his hand to silence her complaints. He sat back down in the space that his bedroll still occupied and began observing. The Eldar had returned to their strange form of deep meditation, and his own sisters whilst nervous seemed to be deciding on who should be watching the entrance of the cave to watch for the nearby Ork hunting party. Slowly Xanxas closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, another survey of the Orks would help him consider the Farseer's proposal.

With his eyes closed, Xanxas let out a large sigh and began to reach out with his mind. He could clearly feel the presence of the Farseer so close to him, but he chose to ignore her and move beyond, looking past her presence and deep into the jungles of Scaroo's to see the Orks hiding there. The Ork hunting party had not move much since the night before, he assumed that they had been resting the same way that he and the others had been, but they were resting in a rather unusual location, it was not secure or safe, in fact it was out in the open. He could see the Orks as clear as if he was sitting in a tree and watching them, something was wrong. The group of Orks seemed to be uncoordinated even for Orks, as though something was guiding them through the jungle.

"Getting a little close to the enemy are we not Inquisitor." A deep, cold and calculated voice quietly spoke to him, he presumed to hide its presence from the nearby Farseer.

"Who..." Xanxas tried to reply but the voice cut him off.

"Ah Inquisitor, curiosity is a dangerous concept for someone like yourself. How about I answer some questions you might have, but you cannot ask, I have to guess."

"If you think you can."

"Excellent. Well I am the Guide, no, I am not on Scaroo's but I am reaching out to you through the expanse of the immaterial." The voice was full of confidence and seemed to be enjoying itself. "I know you are not alone, the presence of an Eldar Farseer is not one that can be shielded easily, if you know what you are looking for. Of course with a Farseer I expect a bodyguard of three Warlocks, am I right?" Xanxas could not believe what he was hearing; it was as if this person, this Guide, was sitting in the room with him, explaining nothing more than what he could see.

"Yes... How do you..." Xanxas was interrupted by a loud screech that seemed to filled his head. As quickly as he could he pulled his mind back and tried to shield it from the sudden increase in psychic pressure. His eyes opened and he became aware if the tall figure who was standing in front of him, it was Farseer Aylthwin. It was the first time that he had even seen anything akin to anger on her face.

"One does not flirt with servants of change," She spoke clearer than ever before, obviously annoyed by what had transpired.

"Wait, that psychic screech was you." Xanxas almost shouted as he stood up, struggling to maintain his composure and not willing to be intimidated by the Farseer anymore than he already was. "Something as powerful as that will bring every Ork on the planet right to use."

"A mind as simple as an Orks can be manipulated and tricked, my screech to them will be nothing more than a whisper in the morning." With the angered look still clearly planted on her face, she closed her eyes and Xanxas felt her once more reach out with her mind. However, it was only seconds before she quickly opened her eyes, a slight flicker of fear in her cold grey eyes.

"What is wrong my Farseer," The Warlock who Xanxas had not noticed standing next to her.

"There is another mind at work; I cannot manipulate the Orks as I should be able to. They are coming, like a green tide they are flowing this way. We must retreat to back through the Webway."

"And what of the monkeys?" It was the Archons cold voice who asked this question as he entered the conversation.

"We have no choice, we must take them with us, the flow of the Webway will take them where they need to go." With that, both the Archon and Farseer turned to their bodyguards and started to give out orders.

"What is going on Inquisitor?" Sister Avaline appeared behind his shoulder.

"The Orks are heading in this direction; we need to get off this cursed rock." The Inquisitor replied, his resolve now sure that the Eldar deal was the only way off Scaroo now.

"How, the ship has fallen, and it will take days, maybe even months for the next ship." She approached the question tentatively, as though scared of the answer she was about to receive.

"We follow the Eldar... Into the Webway." Xanxas answered, trying to keep the conviction in his voice and convince the sister that this was their only option, but his mind was still preoccupied thinking about that other voice that had spoken to him, and what the Farseer meant by servant of Change. Who was the Guide?


End file.
